What drives a student to remain engaged in a self-directed activity?
I do find that students want to learn and they are intrinsically motivated. I got into a heated discussion with my team about this motivation. We were meeting with students who needed some guidance in their academic behaviors. My team mates wanted to reward students for exhibiting the good academic behaviors. My thinking was that the reward was exhibiting the good academic behavior--it had it's own rewards--more success in classes. In the end I lost, now kids are getting blueberry muffins and computer time and totally missing the idea that having good academic behaviors is a reward that will last a lifetime. Bummer!
What are some elements that you think need to be in place?
In order to have self-direction in a classroom I think that you have to foster a climate of wanting to learn for learning's sake. If you as a teacher model how excited you are when you learn something new, the enthusiasm becomes contagious. Students feeling successful and being able to take a risk are also huge components. For my students, risk taking is a serious deficit. This is a constant struggle for me. Also, with my students there is this constant craving for the right answer and the need for constant reassurance..."Is this right?"
What does it look like in your classroom? Examples?
I am just about to begin a problem solving program/activity where students work together in a group using another 21st century skill, collaboration. Students work in small groups and each has a clue to solving a problem. Students each share their clues and together they work to solve the problem. When I participated in this problem solving activity I did not want to stop. We were so vested in solving the problem that we didn't want to stop. The motivation was completely intrinsic for us. Not sure a Snickers bar would have made us work harder. Seems strange that self-direction could work in a group, but the way the problems are set up and the guiding questions teachers can ask allow students many ways to solve the problem. Do you think that self-direction can be a group task or must it be individual?
